


what's past is prologue

by Fandom_Encyclopedia (sparrowsong07)



Series: The Capricorn Chronicles [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, I saw a do you ship it RWBY? video for this and it haunts me, I took a lot of liberties, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Self-Indulgent, Soulmate AU, adam is less horrible in this, to be fair worse is out there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23116996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrowsong07/pseuds/Fandom_Encyclopedia
Summary: Snapshots in Neptune's and Adam's lives, and how they found eachother
Relationships: Adam Taurus/Neptune Vasilias, Neptune Vasilias & Sun Wukong, Past Adam Taurus/Blake Belladonna
Series: The Capricorn Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661653
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	what's past is prologue

  
  


This is all Neptune can remember of his father:

Jupiter is crying in his crib. Their mother is pleading with their father,  _ please, please no.  _ Pluto is standing in front of all of them, his eyes hard and jaw firm.

Neptune’s face burns. 

Their father swings, and Pluto swings back harder.

More people are there. People in suits and helmets. They lead his father away in metal bracelets.

Red drips down his face and then Pluto is there, bruises forming along his cheek, with his soft voice and gentle eyes, void of the darkness present earlier.

Neptune remembers crying, and Pluto pulling him closer, tight against his chest.  _ He can't hurt us anymore, Nep, we’re okay. _

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam never met his mother. She died before he could. Died while Adam lived. 

He was born weak, his father says. Frail and small and  _ weak. _

And yet, he lived.

They live in a small enough village, and Adam’s father struggles.

He picks up odd jobs here and there, being hired from anyone who's willing to pay a faunus.

Adam helps when he can. He refuses to be weak.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Their mother is silent. Pluto can say she's just sick all he likes but only Jupiter believes it. Believes she's just sad when she doesn't eat for days or doesn't speak for a week. Neptune tries to help. He’s seven now, he shouldn't be this  _ useless. _

But he is.

He’s useless when she finally gives up.

Useless when Pluto legally becomes his and Jupiter’s guardian.

Useless when a Grimm comes through the city’s defenses.

Useless when Pluto picks up a long knife to protect them.

Useless when he watches Pluto go down  _ down  _ **_down._ ** His leg smeared in blood and bone.

And he's useless afterward, when Pluto walks with a cane and can't even stand on some days.

And he's useless all the days after that.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


They tell him it was aggravated assault. Say it was self-defense. But the townsfolk whisper when they think Adam can't hear. Whisper that his father deserved it, that he was out of place, out of line.   
  


Some offer him pity, but many call him a stray animal, a street rat, a dirty faunus.

Adam can't afford to be weak any longer

+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

Neptune loves water. Loves how the sun shines over the ocean, how the rain cascades down, loves the cool taste of it.

But the first time he completely submerges himself beneath the rolling waves he can't breathe  _ he can't breathe hecan’tbreathe.  _

He doesn't feel real. His body is drifting, moving with the waves. Mist makes up his hair. He can see, but barely. He's looking through water. He moves toward shore, expects to feel solid on the sand but he doesn't, just feels liquid and the coolness of the water.

And he still can't breathe.

He wakes up in his bed, Jupiter, the curious five-year-old he is, right above him.

Everything hurts.

Pluto calls it a semblance, like how he can move short distances through shadows, or how Jupiter can light up bulbs without dust.

Neptune becomes blue and clear and cool, the taste of salt still lingering.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam finds a sword.

Its big, bigger than his leg, big with a polished blade.

It's beautiful.

There's no name on it, nothing that gives it an owner.

But when Adam touches it, it becomes red. Red like blood, red like autumn leaves and its  _ his.  _ Only his.

He names it Wilt, and ties her to his waist with a coil of string.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


They laugh at him. Two little boys and a mean little girl, laughing at him.

All because he doesn't want to swim. Doesn't want to go in the water, doesn't want to become that  _ thing. _

  
And they  _ laugh. _

And they throw him. It's not hard, he's skinny and short and younger, and there's three of them. They throw him to the cool, blue waves and it feels so  _ right. _

_ But he can't  _ **_breathe._ **

A new voice shouts, and Neptune melts into the waves, joining them in their dance.

He doesn't notice when his body becomes solid. But he does notice when he's pulled out of the water, hacking up what used to be his lungs.

Golden hair and eyes the colour of the sky face back at him.   
  
“Hey, are you okay?”   
  
Neptune stares in confusion at this boy with half a shirt and golden hair and a twisting tail.   
  
“...Yes?” He manages to say though the salt of his teeth.   
  
And the boy smiles, bright like sunshine.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam needs lien, needs to eat when shopkeepers stare too much for him to be able to make off with a loaf of bread or even an apple from a produce stand.

So when Adam sees a flyer saying that the Schnee Dust Company is hiring faunus he dares to hope.

It was a mistake.

It's also the last chance Adam can give humans. 

So he gives up his weakness and trades it for retribution.

If they are going to hate him, fear him, and see him like an animal?

He might as well give them a reason.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Pluto tells him and Jupiter of soulmates. How rare they are. How special.

How, when you find them, your chest glows their aura colour, and how you can always, always find each other.

And Neptune thinks of Sun, and his smile bright enough to chase away the fear. And he cries, because his chest did not glow. Pluto doesn't understand and tries to console him, but he can't hold Neptune in his arms as easily as he did all those years ago.

But it's fine. It's fine because Sun finds out about it only says   
  
“So?”

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam wants it to be Blake. He  _ desperately  _ wants it to be Blake because Blake is kind and gentle and fierce. She holds him and it doesn't hurt.

Nothing about her hurts.

And Adam needs her like he needs to breathe. So he holds tight to her, not letting her go because he can't hurt around her.

But he holds too tight, and she bruises.

And she runs.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


When Neptune is leaving to join a huntsman academy, Pluto almost cries. Jupiter refuses to let go of him and Pluto only lets him out the door once Sun says they’ll look out for each other.   
  
Neptune clutches Tri-Hard the whole way to Haven and is overjoyed when he and Sun end up on the same team.

Scarlet and Sage are opposites. Scarlet is talkative and curious and Sage only speaks when necessary. But they're cool, and accept Neptune and Sun with open arms.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam feels the crushing pain like never before, feels the weight of a world too weak to accept someone like him.

Like all faunus everywhere.

Without her, everything hurts.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


When Sun rushes off to get to Beacon for the eventual Vytal festival, Neptune is a little upset.

He's fine though when the rest of team SSSN arrives at Beacon, and Neptune promptly gets grape soda dumped on him, witnesses the most dramatic board game he's ever seen, gets called a nerd for the umpteenth time, and maybe possibly hits on Weiss.

It's easier to flirt with girls than admit to himself that he still stares after Sun, even though he seems to have a thing with Blake.

And Sun isn't making it any easier, especially after he drags him on an investigation mission and Neptune ends up in a shady looking club with Yang and he maybe fights a giant robot but he and Sun go out for food afterward.

So it's fine.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


The humans come to him with words of power and victory dripping from their leader’s lips. But he doesn't listen until they come with lien and dust and unconscious faunus around them.

So he agrees and allows White Fang members to go with them to steal whatever they’re getting their hands or claws on.

They plan for the Vytal Festival, and the tournament that will lead to the downfall of Beacon. 

Adam will make all of Remnant see what they have forced the faunus to do.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


The second the match begins, Neptune takes off. Away, away from the water. Sage calls after him, but all Neptune can hear is the rolling waves and the misty air.

He stays on the mountain while his team fights NDGO, and shoots from above. He can't get close to the water, he can already taste the salt, can already feel the coolness of it.

It's only when it's just him and Sun, and the opportunity is there, the rest of team NDGO in the waters that Neptune creeps closer, Tri-Hard spurting out electricity like nobody’s business. Team SSSN takes home a victory, he and Sun may have made fools of themselves on live television, but Neptune can still hear the rushing waves.

It's all fun until they get to the finals round.

And now, they're defending Vale and Beacon from the Grimm.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam spots her, with her flowing black hair and wide golden eyes. She sees him too, and he  _ missed her _ . He wants to reach out, pull her close once again.

But he lets go.

She runs away again, hair whipping behind her.

And Adam lets her go.

He still has a job to do. But after that, he no longer aims to kill humans along his path. Instead, he just injures them. He cuts the arm off from a human that tried to put up a fight. But he doesn't kill her.

He doesn't think he can.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


After the Atlas paladin, multiple Atlas drones, and countless Grimm, all the while trying to help civilians, Neptune is a little bit tired, beat up, and bleeding.

His aura was depleted completely, making him vulnerable to a passing Ursa. He’s lost track of the rest of his team, and is barely standing amidst the rubble.

The Ursa charges, maw dripping. Neptune raises Tri-Hard in its trident form, and blasts through the Ursa with a burst of electricity.

It crumbles, and Neptune feels his knees go weak with it. But all too soon as the Ursa’s decaying carcass reveals a boy. Dressed in black and red, with protruding horns and a white Grimm mask.

Neptune only realizes that it's the mask of the White Fang once the boy has his foot pressed roughly to Neptune’s stomach and sword grazing along Neptune’s throat.

Neptune strains under the weight of the boy’s foot, only succeeding in bringing a small trail of blood from his neck.

The boy raises his sword, in preparation to bring it down, and Neptune squeezes his eyes shut.

He waits for the blow.

It doesn't come. Instead, his chest floods with warmth. Burning, ashy warmth.

Neptune slowly opens his eyes, seeing the sword stuck in the ground just half an inch right of his neck. The boy above him has stopped moving completely, it takes a second for his eyes to adjust, but in a moment, he can see why.

His chest is glowing. The same aqua blue that Neptune so often sees in his own aura. When he looks down, his own chest is glowing a deep wine red.

This boy is his soulmate.

  
  


+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

  
  


Adam feels his anger drain away, and for once since Blake has left him, Adam doesn't hurt. His pain is washed away by a coolness. The boy underneath him has a burning chest, the same red that Wilt is.

Adam knows that his own chest is glowing too. The same cool blue of the human’s eyes.

But that's not possible. This is a  _ human.  _ The same species that scarred him, that killed countless faunus before him. 

But their chests are glowing. It's there. This human is his soulmate.

The human opens his eyes again. They're bright blue with hints of white, like mist. Blood drips along his temple and cheek.

He's beautiful.

Adam yanks Wilt out of the ground and sheaths her. The boy flinches.

Adam leaves, his chest growing dimmer with each quick step.

He doesn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> This sucks, im sorry, please dont hate me.


End file.
